I lay in my bed, browsing through the channels. I stopped for a few minutes at the news channel. Yeah, I was that bored. It was something about the "elusive red Gyarados." No clue what that meant, but I watched anyway. It ended up actually being pretty interesting. When the show was just finishing off, Mom called upstairs. "Come down, Cassie! You were going to meet the neighbors today!"
I groaned and slipped into my jeans (I'm aware that the female character wears a skirt by the way), ran a brush through my hair a few times before heading downstairs. I had some cereal and brushed my teeth before heading out the door. "Oh, I almost forgot!" I paused underneath the door frame and looked back at Mom. "Don't go into the tall grass. It'd be okay if you had your own Pokemon, but you don't, so..." I shrugged her off and walked outside, closing the door behind me.
I realized I forgot my jacket and groaned. I wasn't gonna go back inside and listen to Mom blather on about something just to get it though. I was gonna be back inside within a few minutes anyways.
I headed on over to the neighbor's and knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a blond boy who runs into me, just about ramming me down. One of the other neighbors who was watering their plants gave us a look after hearing the loud "thud".
"What was that about?!" The kid made a somewhat odd face that I figured was annoyance I copied it. "You don't exactly run out of a door if someone knocks on it", I replied, putting a hand on my hip. "Well, whatever. I forgive you." I narrowed my eyes. I didn't do anything; why did he forgive me?
The kid closed the door behind him. "I'm Craig," he greeted himself. "You're...the new neighbor. What's your name?"
"Cass," I told him. He seemed obnoxious, but what kind of person doesn't know their neighbor's names? "Just Cass." I hated my name. Cassandra Elmers. My name was so girly...and what kind of a name is "Elmers?" It sounds like some old guy with a big nose.
"Alright...Cass." He looked over to his left--my right, then looked back at me. What was he looking at? "Well, I was heading to the lake. You're coming with me then, alright? And I'll be fining you a million if you're late!"
I blinked as Craig darted off, about to follow him before he stopped. "Oh, jeez, forgot something!" He ran inside and I waited. After a few minutes he hadn't come out, so I walked inside.
"Oh, hi. You're the neighbor, right? I'm Craig's mom, it's nice to meet you." She shook my hand with a sunny smile. I shook it back, looking up at her. "You met him already, I'm sure. Such a hyper boy. I don't know who he gets it from." Get on with it already, Ms. Craig's mom. "He went upstairs for something, not sure what...go on, you can go up!" I didn't like the new neighbors much. "Thank you," I said, trying to hide my annoyance as I walked upstairs.
I stepped into his room and tapped my foot. "I should take my bag too, and my journal...oh, hey." He spun his chair around to look at me and stood up. "We're going to the lake now! I'll be waiting on the road! You owe me ten million if you're late!" I stepped aside as he zoomed toward me and down the stairs. I wonder how he managed not to fall down. I shrugged and followed him outside.
I walked down the road and away from our houses and was soon greeted loudly by Craig. What had that kid been taking?
"Hey, you saw the news, didn't you? You know, the "Search for the red Gyarados" thing? That show got me thinking..." Oh, no, he was thinking. "Hey, I bet we have one of those in our lake, too!"
I wanted to get him to be quiet. I just wanted to go back to bed. I was shivering quite a bit by now, since all I was wearing was some jeans and a tank-top. He didn't seem to notice though. "So, that's what we're doing. We'll find a Pokemon like that and catch it!" ...How was he planning on catching a huge beast like that without any Poke Balls? There wasn't a store anywhere around here, unless we went through the tall grass to Sandgem. I don't like my mom, but I still listen to her...sometimes. I was broken from my thoughts by Craig's chattering. "You lead the way, and don't be slow!"
I trotted on ahead to the lake. I was still peeved, but at least the fast-walking warmed me up a bit. After we got to the entrance Craig was grinning. "Alright! Let's catch us a Gyarados!" He ran through a short expanse of trees and I followed. After a few minutes we'd gotten through the trees, when Craig came to a sudden halt. "What's going on..?" I almost fell forward from the quickness of my stop.
We looked ahead and saw two people: One appeared to be an old man, the other a young boy, about the age of myself, 11. The old man was probably his grandpa or something, taking him to see the lake or whatever. It is a pretty awesome lake, I guess. Craig and I overheard some of their conversation.
"...There's nothing out of the ordinary on the other side either, Professor!" So the old man was a Professor?...The Pokemon Professor from Sandgem. Huh. I always thought he was busy getting his "slaves" to do his work. Maybe that kid could be another one. The Professor seemed like a pretty weird guy. The strangers' chatter continued. "Hm...I may have been mistaken..." Haha, a Professor was wrong. Craig and I exchanged looks and continued listening. "Something appears to be different than before, but...Fine! It's plenty that we have seen the lake. We're leaving now, Lucas." Some bossy Professor...grandpa, whatever he is. The kid talked next. "Professor, you've been gone for four years now. What's it like being back?" Their chat was getting a bit boring by now. "Can we leave yet?" I whispered to Craig. "No, we're staying here until they leave. Ssh!" Hypocrite, he was being louder than I was. The Professor spoke again.
"...Hm. There is one thing I can say: There are many rare kinds of Pokemon in Sinnoh! The region should serve us very well in our studies." Then it was Professor Rowan. Still didn't know who the kid was though. The two turned around and walked back into the trees, passing me and Craig on the way out.
"Then they didn't see us," I said before being interrupted. "What was that about? Those two...odd. Oh! Cass! Check that out!" Craig pointed to what looked like a briefcase from far away. "It's in the tall grass though," I reminded him. "That...doesn't matter. We won't be in there long enough for a Pokemon to come at us!" He ran away from me towards the briefcase, and I reluctantly followed. "A...briefcase. Those people forgot it here then. What should we do with it?" I know what we should do with it: LEAVE IT for them to find it themselves. It's their briefcase, thing, after all. "We could give it back, but who are they? I heard one mention a Professor..."
Craig's ideas were cut off as some Starly flew in. I nearly fell backwards, they were so close. "Aaaah!" Craig yelled. "Po-Pokemon?!" No, duh, they're Pokemon. "What's going on?!" He seemed scared stiff. It was just a couple birds; I don't get why we couldn't just fight them off and give the two guys their suitcase back.
...Then I had an idea. What was in the briefcase, anyways? I opened it up, confused as to why it wasn't locked. The sight that awaited me was three Poke Balls. "...Craig!" I grabbed the one on the far right and held the button down. "We can fight them off!" As the Poke Ball grew in my hand, I released the button and a tiny blue Pokemon popped out.
"Pip! Pip-pip-lup!" What was this thing? Some Pokemon I'd never seen. It was kind of cute though. I was gonna see what else there was, but Craig broke my thoughts. "Fight with it! There isn't any time!!" One of the wild Pokemon was beating its wings in Craig's face, threatening to blow him backward into the lake.
"Pokemon...I don't know what moves it knows...Pokemon, Pound that Starly!" The tiny blue Pokemon jumped into the air and struck the bird's beak with its hand. The bird yelped and chirped loudly at my Pokemon. "Do it again!" Sure enough, it jumped up and hit Starly again. The bird let out one last yip and fell to the ground.
"Whoa!" Craig exclaimed. "Your Piplup totally rocked!" So that's what it was called...a Piplup. I looked down at it and it smiled back up at me with its cheeky little beak. "But my Pokemon did way better!" I hadn't even seen him fighting; what was he talking about? "But...these are other people's Pokemon. We had to use them though...maybe we'll just leave them here, and they'll never know! Yeah!"
I think Craig jinxed it when he said that, because right then, the old man's...slave, grandkid, whatever he was, came back.
"Phew!" The boy said. "You found the briefcase? Thanks! The Professor would've gone through the roof if I forgot it." Definitely a slave. I shrugged. "It's no trouble."
"Wait..." The boy took on a worried expression. "Did you guys use these Pokemon?! Oh man, oh man, how am I going to tell the Professor?" The kid panicked for awhile before taking a deep breath. "This is the Professor's. I'm going to take it back to him now..." And so he picked up the briefcase and walked back through the trees.
"What was that about?" Craig asked me. As if I knew the answer. "I don't know what's going on, but I wanna get out of here. Come on, Cass. Those Pokemon got hurt from that battle." I think you mean yours, I thought to myself. "If we get attacked again, we could be in big trouble." I nodded, even though I already knew that, and followed him through the trees. "You go on...but I want to spend more time with this little guy." Too bad. They're not ours. I walked on and saw the two, yet again.
"Hey, it's those people!" Craig whispered to me. "Is that old guy staring at us?" Of course he is. After Craig had said that the guy walked over to us. Craig hid behind me.
"Hm...I heard from Lucas that you used our Pokemon?" Uh-oh, we're in trouble now... "Let me see them please." We stepped aside to show him the Pokemon. Great, we'd be slaves next. "Hm...Piplup and Turtwig...hm...I see, that's how it is..." What the heck is he talking about? "Lucas! I'm going back to the lab." Wait, then we're not being punished..? That's good, I guess. "Uh...of course! Professor, wait for me!" The boy, "Lucas," apparently, turned back to us. "You should visit us at the lab later, I think." ...Then, we were in trouble. Great. Mom would be so mad if I didn't go though...so I may as well. "We'll be seeing you!" Lucas ran off to follow the Professor.
Craig and I stood in silence. He eventually broke the silence. "What was all that about?" He asked, I assumed he was asking himself. I hoped he was. "I mean, if he was angry, he could've just yelled at us, or whatever...and he didn't want the Pokemon back?" We both shrugged. "Well, I guess we should head home...bye, Cass." He walked on ahead without me. I'd never seen him so sad...then again, I suppose I'd met him about an hour ago. "Bye, Craig."
"What's up, dear?" My mom greeted me, a look of concern on her face. Not much, I was thinking, just going to be a slave by tomorrow. "It's all good," I replied, walking toward the stairs. "I'm going out to play with Craig again tomorrow," I lied. I hated lying to Mom. She always found out, no matter what. I wondered if people got mind-reading powers when they became parents. Dad could tell too, before he left. "Alright, honey..." Mom sighed.
"Oh, I almost forgot." She tossed me a pair of blue-and-white running shoes. Cool, I thought. I finally got some new shoes. "Those are running shoes." Of course they are, Mom. "You're probably gonna be running around a lot with your friend now, so these should help. You needed new shoes anyway, didn't you?" Yeah, Mom, only for about five months. "Thanks," I told her before picking them up. We talked for a few minutes about some things that were on TV. Then I headed upstairs to my room.
I thought about what had happened today. I battled with Pokemon...and it was actually pretty cool. Craig liked it too. What if we get to keep them?...No, that would be stupid to think. The Professor should be mad; why would he let us keep them? After thinking to myself for awhile I fell asleep.
